


Happy Birthday Cloud!

by InsomniacTiger



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Final Fantasy VII Spoilers, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Happy Birthday Cloud Strife, Set sometime after Midgar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25853623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsomniacTiger/pseuds/InsomniacTiger
Summary: Its Cloud's birthday, whether he remembers it or not. And they WILL celebrate.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	Happy Birthday Cloud!

The cell phone Tifa had given him had been ringing for a few minutes now, but the only people who had his number he knew were safely down the hall having drinks at the hotel bar. Aerith had already suggested to the team that they should have a chance to just relax for an evening. Take a break and maybe have a drink or two. Barrett and Tifa had readily agreed to the plan. But Cloud had insisted that they get the room situation figured out first. Tifa had sighed and said he only wanted to do that first because he wanted to hide in his.

He said that he was concerned about them not having vacancy then they were going to struggle to find somewhere to stay if they were all drunk off their asses.

But of course, she was right. He wanted time to himself. They traveled together and spent every waking minute next to each other. Was it really too much to ask that he gets a moment to himself?

Not that he was really alone.

When they had divided up the rooms the girls agreed to split a room, but since there were only two beds to a room the three men were left to figure out who got to be alone.

In the end, Cloud felt it was fair to leave the decision up to Red.

Their lion-like friend insisted that he could just sleep on the floor, but Cloud shook his head and just waited for him to make a decision.

So Red and Cloud were sharing a room.

It was a not very well-kept secret that the youngest of their group favored being teamed up with ex-SOLDIER, so no one was surprised by the choice.

“Cloud, what if its important?” Red asked from the bed he was lying on, his tail flicking back and forth off the edge of the frame.

“It’s not.”

“You’re sure?”

“If it was an emergency, we would have heard some commotion, if it was really important, they would knock on the door. They just want me to drink with them.”

Cloud had his arms folded behind his head as he rested back on the bed, hoping he would fall asleep soon. The softness of the blankets and mattress that were not great yet still a luxury at this point.

There was a moment of silence, so he assumed the conversation was over, but then Red started again.

“Is that really so bad?”

“We need to leave in the morning, I’d like to not have a headache as we go.”

“Just one or two surely would not cause such an ailment.”

“True.”

The phone was still ringing.

“At least answer and tell them you want to sleep? I’m certainly not going to be able to rest with that thing making noise.”

That was a fair point.

He answered. “Yes Tifa?”

“Cloud! Were you sleeping?”

“Trying to.”

“You should come down to the bar! It’s not crowded at all and the food is pretty great!”

“We ate earlier.”

“Come on you pouter!” Aerith’s voice cut in suddenly. “We know your just avoiding us!”

“Tell him if he doesn’t get his broodin’ ass down here I’m going to drag him down here myself!” Barrett yelled.

Cloud sighed.

“Please Cloud?” Tifa asked.

Red leapt gracefully off the bed, and headed for the door. “They aren’t going to stop.”

He was right.

“Fine. One drink.” He hung up.

They went into the bar area and were surprised at how dark the room is. Red’s tail gave a little light, and Cloud’s enhanced eyes picked up a few shapes nearby. Instinctively his hand went toward the Buster Sword strapped to his back.

The lights flicked on suddenly.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

He stared at the three gathered at the bar.

They had a small cake with sloppy frosting and a crooked candle, and a banner that was made out of a table cloth and some markers it looked like that read, ‘Happy B-Day Cloud!’

“What?” He let go of his sword, but didn’t move from the doorway.

Aerith skipped forward to grab his wrist and drag him to the seat they had prepared for him at the counter.

“Tifa told us it was your birthday today! We wanted to surprise you!”

“And use the excuse to eat some cake!” Barrett grinned as he nudged the dessert closer to him.

Resting his paws up on the chair next to him Red smirked slightly as Cloud looked at him suspiciously.   
“I think now is when you blow out the candle.”

With another sigh Cloud blew out the small flame and his friends cheered as Barrett started to cut the cake into slices. Aerith quickly took over claiming he wasn’t doing it evenly enough.

Tifa rested her elbows between him and Red giving him a small smile. “Thanks for coming. I know this isn’t really your kind of thing.”

Cloud frowned and looked down at the plate of sugar that was being pushed in front of him.

“I don’t think it’s my birthday…”

Tifa gave him a concerned look, but quickly covered it with a smile. “It is. We’ve just been so busy with everything going on, you must have forgotten.”

Aerith shoved a fork at him and they all waited expectantly for him to take the first bite.

When he did and gave them a thumbs up they cheered again and excitedly began to dig into it.

They spent the next few hours finishing off the cake, having maybe more than one drink, (though no one reminded Cloud that he only said one) and messing around.

It felt good to just let go and be themselves for a bit. Not eco-terrorists. Not fighters. Just friends, celebrating a birthday.

Cloud would never admit it, but it was actually fun.

And when they finally decided they should head to bed since they were supposed to leave early in the morning, they each went to their designated bedrooms.

Tifa hung back to clean the bar up for the owner who was kind enough to let them borrow it for the night. Cloud opted to wait for her to finish wiping down the counter.

“So, you had a good time?” She grinned.

He shrugged and looked toward the window even though it was dark out. “It was… nice.”

“Good.” She nodded before rinsing out the towel and wiping her hands. “I can’t believe you forgot your own birthday.”

He sighed. “We’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, but still… you work too hard.”

“Someone’s got to keep the rest of you slackers safe.”

“Hey!”

“I’m kidding.” He stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “Thanks again Tifa.”

“Of course. See you in the morning.”

He nodded, watched her disappear behind her door, then went into his own room for the night. Red was already sound asleep on his bed.

As he was settling in for the night, he thought over the evening’s events. It was… nice. That’s what he had told Tifa. And it was true. It made him want to fight even harder going forward… because seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces made it worth it. They would keep going on their way, for a better future.


End file.
